Missed Connections?

I love Craigslist. I admit it. I love looking for the next great furniture find – even if I don’t need it. Mind you, I very rarely buy but I love the thrill of discovery. The other day I noticed a category called “missed connections.” I didn’t know what it was so I checked it out. Low and behold, people are writing about the certain someones who caught their eye at the corner grocery store, gas station, library, or wherever. Basically, these people are writing about missed opportunities. Risks they didn’t take for whatever reason. I can relate.

A few weeks ago, I was on the freeway. My mind was preoccupied with all that I had to do once I got home. I barely noticed the truck that was keeping pacing with me as I flew down the interstate. Finally, I came out of myself enough to see that a really cute guy was in that truck and he was smiling at me. My first response was to look away – he couldn’t really be smiling at me. What ensued was a flirtation at 70 miles per hour where he attempted, through a variety of hand signals, to invite me for a cup of coffee. I declined.

I have spent quite bit of time thinking about that risk that I didn’t take. At worst, it could have been a cup of coffee with a weirdo (coming under the classification of an adventure). At best, well, who knows? The point is that I did not try. I did not risk. And, now I don’t know. I did not take an opportunity when it was presented to me. I rationalized that I was too busy, it would be too crazy to stop for coffee, and on and on until the opportunity was gone.

How often do we do this with other things in our lives? We turn away from fun because we are too busy. We turn away from the book idea that comes on a whisper in the night because we can’t possibly find the time to write. We turn away from the chance to buy an investment property because the tenants might destroy the toilet. And, so it goes. We turn away from risk. We turn away from life.

I’ve decided that I like flirting with life at 70 miles per hour. The next time, should I be so lucky, I won’t miss out.

Love this, Andrea. Whether or not we pursue the 70-mph flirtation, the metaphor serves. We are presented with such opportunities all the time and we just as easily dismiss them as crazy, ridiculous, and impossible.